Soft and smooth with ripe berry flavors, the goal of Ravenswood Vintners Blend, is accessibility both in character and price. Since 1983, Ravenswood's Joel Peterson has been renowned not only as one of California's best winemakers but also as one of its most talented blenders, piecing together superb value-driven wines like this supple California Merlot.

Known more for their Zins, Ravenswood has put out a super drinkable Merlot at a very affordable price point. Lush red currants, raspberry and strawberry take center stage with lacings of smoky oak and rose petals. At this price you can make this your everyday wine, but with this quality you could also serve it confidently at your next dinner party.

This wine will be more fruit than it will oak, however since they do use French Oak barrels to age this wine for about a year (25% of that being new oak) there will be some oak characteristics. If you are looking for something that is all "berry" and no oak than you may want to try one of the Beaujolais wines. They tend to be full of very ripe fruit and typically don't see a lot of oak. Georges Duboeuf and Louis Jadot make some great ones....

Answered on 4/18/2011 by MT3 from Mt. Kisco, NY

A:

Oak can offer different favor nuances to wine. It can offer vanilla, toast, brown spices or smoke nuances. This wine is aged in French oak and shows some brown spicy character which is very appealing and balances well with the fruity notes in the wine.